Eric Walters, general manager of the Hilton Vancouver Washington since 2010, is leaving this fall to become general manager of the much larger Hilton in downtown Portland.
Walters, 49, leaves the helm of the 227-room Vancouver hotel on a high note, with room occupancy now averaging in the high 70 percent range, a figure that Walters said exceeds expectations for the property. When he arrived in June 2010, in the depths of the economic downturn, occupancy was in the low 60 percent range.
With an improved economy and downtown’s increased attractiveness, Walters said he is optimistic that the city can attract a growing number of visitors.
“I think the opportunity is prime,” said Walters. “We hear from a number of our customers that they enjoy the hometown feel.”
In addition to operating the hotel, Walters oversaw the attached convention center, with its 30,000 square feet of meeting space. The city financed construction of the combined hotel and convention center, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. It operates the facility through its Downtown Redevelopment Authority, with Hilton as the contract operator.
In 2014, the convention center hosted 1,287 events that attracted more than 115,000 people, the redevelopment authority reported. The hotel and convention center generated about $14.1 million in revenue last year, including $2.8 million in net income, and expects income to top $3 million this year, said Lloyd Tyler, Vancouver’s chief financial officer and executive director of the Downtown Redevelopment Authority.
“Eric has done a phenomenal job through a very challenging recession,” said Tyler. “His set of skills and his targeting on financial results led us through the recession in a very positive operating position.”
Kim Bennett, president and chief executive officer of Visit Vancouver USA, praised Walters not only for his work but for his community involvement. “He has been a community leader,” she said. “He has served on our board the entire time he has been here.”
Bennett said the visitors association’s analysts found that visitor spending in Clark County was up by more than 3 percent in 2014. She said summer occupancy in hotels downtown and countywide is averaging above 80 percent. Now the question is whether there’s enough demand for additional downtown hotels.
Gramor Properties, developer of the downtown waterfront project, has talked about building one or more hotels on the waterfront, but its time frame is uncertain. The Port of Vancouver also is hoping to strike a deal with the Red Lion chain to build a new hotel at its Terminal 1 site, replacing the existing Red Lion Hotel at the Quay, an aging property that is owned by the port and operated by Red Lion.
Walters believes bringing all those plans to fruition in the short term might be more than the market could bear. “I do think there’s enough demand for one more hotel,” he said.
Walters, a Camas resident who has worked for the Hilton chain for 19 years, expects to be working in Portland in early September, once his Vancouver successor is hired. There, he will manage one of the city’s largest hotels, with 785 rooms.
“My hope is to continue the success the team has had there and to find new ways to increase the revenue and profit for owners,” he said.
